CERT/Software Engineering Institute June 2016 http://www.sei.cmu.edu
Table of Contents Welcome to STEPfwd! 3 Becoming a Registered User of STEPfwd 4 Learning the Home Page Layout 5 Understanding My View 7 Understanding the Dashboard Action Panel 9 Enrolling in a Course 10 Viewing the Course Outline 11 Beginning a Course 12 Understanding My Notes 17 Taking a Quiz Assessment 19 Accessing Labs 20 Understanding the My Course Action Panel 22 Completing the Course 24 Generating the Course Progress Report 25 Contacting Us 27 Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 2
Welcome to STEPfwd! The CERT STEPfwd (Simulation, Training, & Evaluation Platform) is a flexible, multi-media, simulation, training, and exercise environment that is accessible anywhere, anytime. You can enhance your job-related skills through video-recorded lectures, demos, and hands-on labs. This Quick Start Guide introduces you to STEPfwd and explains how to enroll in and manage your courses and account information. System Requirements To use STEPfwd effectively, you need the following: HTML5 compatible web browser such as Internet Explorer 9+, Chrome 4+, or Firefox 3.5+. Internet connection of 384 Kbps or greater to sustain downloads with no more than 230 ms of latency. Minimum client resolution of 1280 x 1024 to enable proper lab player display. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 3
Becoming a Registered User of STEPfwd You need an authorized account to gain access to the CERT STEPfwd environment. After completing the registration and payment process, you will be invited to establish a CERT STEPfwd account. Note: Account access is currently 12 months in duration. Upon receiving the email invitation you must accept the invitation by clicking the invite link. You will be added as a member in a community. 1. Browse to the STEPfwd homepage (https://stepfwd.cert.org/lms). 2. At the top right of the homepage, click Login. 3. Enter your Email Address and Password. 4. Click Log In. 5. Click OK to acknowledge that you agree to the Terms of Use and Release of Records Pursuant to FERPA. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 4
Learning the Home Page Layout Upon logging in to STEPfwd, your user homepage is presented. 1 The top panel The top panel is where your name is displayed and contains: The STEPfwd image. Clicking the image from any page within STEPfwd returns you to your home page. A Content Search icon used to search for content within STEPfwd. An FAQ s link to access the Frequently Asked Questions page. The Log Out link to log out of the system 2 My Community My Community displays the community name in which your user account is a member. Clicking the link takes you to the community profile page where you can view community information such as the number of users in the community, number of course enrollments, and number of course completions for the community. 3 The Course tabs The Course tabs contain: My Courses Courses you are currently enrolled in. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 5
Available Courses Courses available for you to enroll in. Archived Courses Courses you have archived. 4 Search Box The Search box is used to search for courses by name within the three course tabs. 5 The My View action panel The My View action panel contains links which are available for you to view: My Courses, My Exercises, My Content, My Forums, My Badges, My Notes, and My Assessments. 6 The Dashboard action panel The Dashboard action panel contains links available to: View My Profile, Edit Profile, Change Password, My Reports, and My Course Progress. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 6
Understanding My View The links available within the My View action panel on the user homepage allow users to navigate between the types of content available to them. Each view includes the capability to search the listing by item name. My Courses As described previously, the My Courses area is where courses that the user has enrolled in are listed. There are several actions available from the My Courses tab. View completion progress (by percent) for each enrolled course. Course name link takes you to the homepage of the course. Archive Enrollment moves course under the Archive tab. Withdraw Enrollment moves course under Available courses tab. My Exercises The My Exercises page lists lab exercises that have been previously launched or scheduled. You can choose to Connect or Cancel exercise sessions from this page. Note: There is a limit to the lab exercises sessions that may be available to a user at any one time. Should you ever receive an error when launching a lab exercise indicating you have too many active sessions, this page is where you would terminate lab exercises you are not actively using. My Content The My Content page lists all content that the user has bookmarked as an item of interest. To add a content item to the list under My Content: 1. In the top panel, click the Content search icon. 2. In the search box, enter the content you are interested in (for example malware ). 3. Press the Enter key. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 7
4. In the list of search results next to the content you are interested in click Add Bookmark. 5. Click OK. The content is bookmarked and displays in the My Content list. Note: Once an item has been bookmarked, the link toggles to Remove Bookmark. To remove a bookmark you have added, click Remove Bookmark. You can search for bookmarks too. My Forums The My Forums page contains system and community level discussion forums. A community manager must enable a forum in order for the community to have a discussion form. Click a forum name link to access that forum. From within each discussion forum, you can search for existing topics or create a new topic. My Curriculums The My Curriculums page contains curriculums that have been made available to a user. Curriculums consist of one or more courses and are typically designed as training plans for individuals. Users with the Training Advisor role within the system may create curriculums. My Badges The My Badges page contains any badges that are available to a user. Badges will initially be transparent in color until the user has completed the training associated with that badge. Badges that are complete will be bold in color. In order to earn a badge, you must enroll in and complete the course associated with the badge. My Notes The My Notes page is a central area to locate all notes captured while participating in training. Notes are saved by course and may be accessed and searched as such. Please see the My Notes section for additional details on creating, saving, and recalling notes. My Assessments The My Assessments page lists all the lab exercise assessments the user has participated in, and the results for each. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 8
Understanding the Dashboard Action Panel Edit User Profile Click STEPfwd in the panel at the top of the screen to return to your user home screen. In the Dashboard action panel, you will find links to view your profile, edit your profile, change your password and generate your course report. View My Profile Opens your My Profile page that displays your name and community membership. The Edit My Profile and Change Password links are also available from this page. Edit Profile Opens your profile page to edit your name or time zone information. Change Password Allows you to update your password. You must enter your current password, new password, and confirm your new password. Your password must have at least one special character. Valid values are:! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) - + = { } ; ', ". /?. Quick Start Guide Allows you to view and/or download this Quick Start Guide in PDF format. Remember to click Save Profile or Save when you are finished updating your profile information or changing your password. The My Reports section of the Dashboard action panel has a link available to generate a report detailing your progress in all courses in which you have enrolled. Additional information on generating and using the My Course Progress report is detailed in a later section. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 9
Enrolling in a Course To enroll in a course that is available to your community: 1. Click the Available Courses tab. 2. Find a course by browsing the list or searching by course name or keyword. 3. Click the Enroll in Course link next to the name of the course you would like to enroll in. 4. You will receive a message welcoming you to the course. Click OK. You are taken to the course homepage where you can view the course outline and begin the course. This course will now be listed under your My Courses tab. Note: You must enroll in a course for the progress to show and to get your certificate of completion. It is possible to take and complete a course but not get the certificate of completion because you did not enroll! Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 10
Viewing the Course Outline You may prefer to view the course outline before you enroll in a course. To do so: 1. Click the Available Courses tab. 2. Click the course name link to view the course s homepage and full outline. 3. In the course homepage, click Expand All to open all module headings and reveal the contents contained within each, or click the black arrow next to individual modules to expand individually. 4. After you have reviewed the course outline, click the Enroll in this Course icon if you wish to enroll in the course. If you do not wish to enroll, click STEPfwd in the top panel to return to your user homepage. Once you have enrolled in a course, it will be listed under your My Courses tab until you decide to withdraw from, or archive your enrollment. Content item types are indicated by the following icons: Lecture Demo Lab Quiz Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 11
Beginning a Course To begin viewing a course you have enrolled in: 1. Select the course name link from your My Courses tab. 2. Click the black arrow to reveal the contents of each course module, or click Expand All to simultaneously expand all modules. 3. Click the green Launch icon next to the first piece of content in the course. The content player will automatically progress to the next item in the outline once a content piece is completed. Alternatively, click the Launch button(s) in subsequent topics to progress through the course. You may also toggle the auto advance feature on the player page by clicking Auto Advance: On/Off button. Understanding the Player Window Lecture and demo content items open a player window when launched that includes synchronized video and slides. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 12
Using the player controls, you can: Pause/Play the video Advance the video Select shortcuts Download course materials Move around within video chapters Toggle captions on/off Play the video at a faster speed Mute and adjust the volume Play the video in full screen mode 1 To pause/play the video, select or. 2 To advance or retreat the video, select. 3 To select shortcuts: Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 13
4 To download course materials, select: Note: Not all courses have materials available for download. 5 To move around within video chapters, select: 6 To turn on transcription (subtitles) to be displayed in a closed caption format, select the captions icon: Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 14
then select English. 7 to play the video at a faster speed, select: 8 To control the volume, or to mute the sound: 9 To switch to full screen, click the full screen icon. To exit out of full screen, press Esc on your keyboard or click the full screen icon again. You may exit a video before completion and resume where you left off at a later time. Click the Course Home icon at the top right of the video player window at any time to return to the course homepage and view course progress. Viewing Your Progress Your progress for each module as well as individual content items are displayed in the progress status bar next to each item; each will indicate Complete when finished. The Total Progress status bar in the My Course action panel on the course home screen indicates the percentage of the entire course that you have completed. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 15
You may exit the course at any time and resume later. When ready to resume the course, simply select it from the courses listed under your My Courses tab and continue where you left off. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 16
Understanding My Notes The My Notes feature offers the ability to take notes on individual content items while it is active in the player. Any notes entered by the user may be accessed through the My Notes link in the homepage My View action panel or the View Course Notes link on each course homepage. To create course notes: 1. Click the Launch button next to a content item within the course outline. 2. Under the content player, click the Notes tab. 3. Enter any information to be saved as notes, and click Save when finished. Once course notes are saved, they will be viewable and searchable within the Notes tab. If you leave a course and return later to continue, previously saved notes will be viewable on the Notes tab. You can also access any course notes through the My Notes link on the homepage. 1. From the user homepage, click the My Notes link in the My View action panel of the dashboard to access the My Notes page. By default, all notes saved from all user enrolled courses will be displayed. 2. From the Select Course dropdown menu, choose the course from which you would like to view saved notes. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 17
Saved notes are searchable using the Search field in the My Notes page. Notes may be deleted using the Delete Note link at the bottom of the My Notes page. Note: Users designated with the Training Advisor role in your community are able to view all course notes from all users. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 18
Taking a Quiz Assessment Courses typically include quiz assessments at the conclusion of a course which must be passed in order to earn a course completion certificate. 1. Locate the course exam within the course outline and click the Launch icon to start the quiz assessment engine. 2. Click the Begin icon to start the quiz assessment. 3. Progress through the quiz assessment by selecting the radio button next to the correct answer and clicking the Submit button for each question. After the answer for the final question has been submitted, you will be prompted to Submit your answers. Once you submit the quiz assessment, the results will be immediately returned. The information in the results include whether the quiz assessment may be taken again, how many questions were answered correctly out of the total number of questions, and the quiz assessment result of either Passed or Failed. If the result of the quiz assessment is Passed, the quiz assessment will be marked complete within the exam outline. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 19
Accessing Labs Courses in CERT STEPfwd include hands-on lab exercises. These labs are used to reinforce concepts and provide students with practical, hands-on experience. As noted in the system requirements section, please confirm your client resolution is set at 1280 x 1024 or higher. To access a lab exercise, click the Launch button contained in a lab within a course outline. You are presented with the Connections Options screen. Select the appropriate connection option and click Connect. Here, you also have the option click View Lab Document and review and save the guide that contains the directions and details for the lab. Note: Exercises may take a couple minutes to load. You will see several messages as the exercise is loading, followed by the Exercise Player window detailing status as it loads hosts and configurations. Once the exercise has finished loading, you will have an exercise player window split into two sections with the exercise manual displayed on the right. The exercise manual contains the directions for completing the exercise objectives. Follow the instructions in the lab document to complete the lab s objectives. Lab exercises expire and terminate after three hours. You will receive a 5-minute warning message before a lab session ends. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 20
Tip: If the Start Menu button is not visible on the virtual machine (as in the screenshot above), right-click on the desired machine icon and select Refresh. Do not adjust the resolution on the various virtual machines unless specifically directed to do so in the lab instructions. When you are finished with the lab, click Exit. If a lab is terminated automatically or by closing the Lab Player window, the lab will not be marked as complete in the course outline. You must click the green Exit icon for STEPfwd to mark your progress as Complete after you have finished a lab. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 21
Understanding the My Course Action Panel The My Course Action Panel that is available on the top right of every course homepage: Shows your total progress completing the course. Offers two ways to remove a course from your My Courses tab Withdraw from Course or Archive this Course. Contains a link to View Course Notes. Withdraw from Course When you withdraw from a course, you completely remove your enrollment. Your course progress information will not be included within any User, Course, or Community reports. However, your progress within the course is preserved. If you re-enroll in the course in the future, your progress will be indicated. Note: Withdrawing from, and re-enrolling in, an already completed course may impact the date displayed on the course completion certificate. Archive this Course When you archive a course, you move the course from your My Courses list to your Archived Courses list. This allows you to keep a link to courses that you wish to refer to in the future. All of your archived course progress information is stored and also included in reporting. Tip: Archive courses that you ve completed to clean up your My Courses list. This ensures that they are still included in reporting for yourself and your Community. To move a course back to your My Courses tab, click the Archived Courses tab on your home page, find the course name, and click Restore Enrollment. Withdraw, archive, and restore functions are also available from the three course tabs on your user home page. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 22
View Course Notes This link allows you to view and search notes entered and saved for any course. Please refer to the My Notes section for additional details on course notes. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 23
Completing the Course Once you have completed all items within a course, your course progress status will be 100% and a course completion certificate link (View Certificate) will be available. Note: Most courses have passing percentages set within quiz assessments that must be achieved for course completion. On the My Courses tab, the courses that have been completed will have a View Certificate link available. Completion certificate links may also be accessed via the completed course s page. Select View Certificate to open the completion certificate. The certificate contains: Your name The name of the course The total number of hours for the course Date of completion To print the certificate, click the Print link in the top-right corner just above the certificate. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 24
Generating the Course Progress Report The My Course Progress link under My Reports in the Dashboard action panel is used to generate a report detailing your progress in all courses for which you have enrolled. Click the My Course Progress link to view the list of courses you are enrolled in and the completion percentage for each. A completion date will be listed for any course you have successfully completed. This report may be printed, exported as a URL, or exported as.csv file. The Hide Filters check box, when selected, hides the available filters. Filtering the Course Progress Report Filters are available to sort or view report information according to desired criteria. Select the up or down blue triangle next to the Course, % Complete, or Date Completed column heading to list and view information according to that respective criteria. To exclude a course from the report, click the blue X next to the course name. You may exclude as many courses as desired. A blue X will appear by the Course heading, alerting you that a course(s) has been excluded from this report. Click the blue X to restore the course(s) to your report. Viewing the Content Report In the list of courses in your Course Progress Report, you can view progress information for each content item within a course. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 25
For example, according to the course progress report for IPv6 Security Essentials, I am 13.3% complete. When I select the course name link, IPv6 Security Essentials, the IPv6 Security Essentials - Content Report is displayed, showing me my progress for each content item within the course. As described previously in this section, filtering and exclusion features are available within this report as well as the export and printing functionalities. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 26
Contacting Us To report a problem or provide other feedback, click the Feedback link at the bottom of the CERT STEPfwd window, send email to stepfwd-support@cert.org, or call 412-268-3300. Please detail as much information as possible including the specific system element(s) involved (community, course, content piece, etc.) and any error messages you may have received. Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University 27